The Dickinson press., 1887-10-15
IN BLAZING PRISONS.
A RAILWAY COLLISION FOLLOWED
BY A HORRIBLE HOLOCAUST.

A RAILWAY COLLISION FOLLOWED
BY A HORRIBLE HOLOCAUST.
The Death Roll Includes Nearly Every
Passenger on the Inflated Train---Ter-
rible Scenes During the Burning of the
Wreck.
KoUTs, Ind, Oct. 12.-The worst hor-
rors OF Chatsworth have been duplicated
here. A dozen blood stained, smoke-be
grimed, injured victims of railroad care.
l%essness, or laundering, were brought
into the villages little station-house
early in the morning, and in the after
noon nine charred corpses, victims of the
same laundering or carelessness, were
laid upon the station platform, while
three miles west, down the track of
the Chicago s. Atlantic railway,
near a lonely old water tank, piles
of fearfnlly tangled debris marked
the spot where a collision, seldom
equaled for terrible results had occurred.
According to the best estimate obtaina-
THIRTY LIVES SACRIFICED.
Dle-IOf Only an estimate was possible
fully thirty human lives had been sacri-
feed outright and half that number OF
persons had suffered injuries more or less
serious. The %east-bound train from Chi
cago had, without a moments warning,
into by Il he%avily-loaded fast freight
plunging madly forward in the darkness.
The massive framework of the sleeper
was transformed into n huge catapult,
pushed mercilessly forward by the
freight. 1t crushed into the cars forward.
smashing their comparatively light tim
Der and making the work of destruction
complete. The wreck very quickly
took fire and the sight of the
shrieking victims and dancing
flames was one never to be forgotten.
The engine of the freight plunged so far
into the rear Pullman that its upper
works dropped off in the center of the
coach. The conclusion drove the heavy
sleeper into the day coach, which was re-
duced to splinters. The platforms of ev-
cry cur were torn away, and thus
wrecked. The ends of each coach were
broken like egg-shells. The cars of the
freight train were hurled in every direc.
ton. The upper works of the en-
CINE were torn away and the
tender thrown across the track.
LOCKED IN BLAZING PRISONS.
The fire illuminated the sky for miles
around, and Startled the farmers, who had
not yet gone to bed. Throughthe rain and
mud the rescuers came. Meantime the
crews of both trains, who had escaped
with but slight injuries, We're hard at
work, dragging the helpless passengers
from their blazing prisons. Nearly all
were ound to have been hurled to the
front end of the coaches, where they
were pinned and crushed by the heavy
hmbers and irons of the platforms. The
rallroad officials claim there We're but
twenty passengers on the train, but the
rescuers declared that the screams and
appeals for aid came from double that
number of human beings. The Pull
mans, although the first to receive TIT
shock, did not leave the track, but burned
where they stood. So far as known not a
life was lost in these coaches. There wer.
but few persons in the berths. and al
though all were hurled one upon tho
other, all escaped through the windows
before the flames burst through the floor
SCREENING SLAUGHTER.
1t was in the day coach that thu
slaughter occurred. This frail box was
smashed to atoms. The sides and roo
shot into the air and her came down OF
the score or more of human beings who
lny penned beneath the seats. There
was a Bohemian family named Weller il
this Inflated coach, a father, mother
W daughters and two sons. When tn,
heavy Pullmans drove the day coacl
against the baggage-car the entire famil,
were hurled over the seats and driven he
tween the ends of the two cars. Thu
flames moved up from behind will
fearful rapidity, The father ant
husband lay dead with an iron roc
through his throat, but the rest of thu
unfortunate family were still alive whel
the trainmen sought to rescue them
Everything wa done to drag the children
from h pile, but without avail. TIL,
fire crept nearer and nearer until a cush
ion of q seat blazed up just above thu
woman's head. The poor creature triet
to speak but no ineligible sound escaped
her lips. Then she attempted to pas
one of her girls, a wee mite of Il thing
whose white apron was stained will
blood, to the rescuers who We're crowded
about the terrible scene. When til
Woman saw that death was inevitable
She closed her eyes as if in prayer
and wrapping her only fire.
arm around the waist of the children
nearest her awaited
THE COMING OF THE FLAMES.
A middle aged Irish lady VIII
was in the day coach was caught under
stove and thus imprisoned. She wa
burned to death before the spectators
DR.. William Perry, of North .Tudson, hi
wife and a little daughter. were all aslee]
when the crash came. The concussiol
hurled them over the seats and pile
them with the other unfortunates at tn
front end of the car. Mr.. Perry sue
ceeded in getting half of his bod
through one of the windows, bu
the timhers of the roof which had falle
down held his legs in a vice-like griI
Below the doomed man lay his wife an,
child. When they realized that thei
doom was irrevocably sealed the
screamed frantically, and drove the fathe
wild with their piteous screams. An
other effort was made to drag the docto
from the window, but a wave of flame
, drove the rescuers back on the prairie
where they watched the grey head dro
upon the window sill and finally disar
pear from view. When the flames ha
spent their fury, the blackened and dis
found in the ruins of the day coach
, APILE OF ASHES M FLESH.
The sickcning pile of ashes and fles
. . lay near the front end, although finger
! and e thigh-bones We're picked up nea
the center of the coach. This leads man
to believe that at least fifteen and pei
haps twenty persons lost their lives. Til
: wounded, who numbered seventeen, WEI
. taken to the village hotel. Without
single exception all were wounded abou
, the head. The bodies of the dead wer
: taken to the village to await a coroner
inquest.
: So far as can be learned the followin
! persons lost their lives: DIR. Edwar
t Perry, of North Judson, auditor of Star
county: Mrs. DR.. Perry, Ada Grace PER-!
Charles Miller, of Dundee, ILL.,: Len
Miller, Wilhelmine Miller, Fred Mile
Minnie Miller, an unknown Irish lad,